COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ryan Day will receive a three-year contract extension that will keep him on the sidelines as head coach of the Buckeyes at least through the 2026 football season.
The extension is pending approval by the Ohio State University Board of Trustees. A committee of the board is expected to approve the contract extension Wednesday with a vote on the full board agenda on Thursday, according to the university.
“Ryan Day’s management of this football program, from mentoring and leading our student-athletes in their academic pursuits and off-field endeavors to coaching them on the playing field, has been exceptional,” Senior Vice President and Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletics Director Gene Smith said. “I am appreciative of his work. And I want to thank President Michael V. Drake for his leadership and the Board of Trustees for its work with this extension.”
Day will make $5.375 million from Feb. 1, 2020 through Jan. 31, 2021, plus the University will make an employer contribution of $1 million to his retirement continuation plan on Dec. 31, 2020. He will receive his current salary through June 30, 2020.
Beginning July 1, 2020, Ohio State says Day will be paid at an annualized rate of $6.0 million per year through January 31, 2021. Day’s compensation for the 2021 season will be $6.5 million and his total compensation for the 2022 season will be $7.6 million.
Increases to his compensation package after Feb. 1, 2023 will be determined by the director of athletics and approved by the Board of Trustees.
Day guided the Buckeyes to a 13-1 season in 2019, his initial season as a head coach. Ohio State went 9-0 in the Big Ten Conference and Day became the first Ohio State coach in 40 years – since 1979 – to be named Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year with the media voters honoring him with their Dave McClain coach of the year award.
Ohio State defeated No. 10 Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game to become the first team in Big Ten history to win three consecutive outright Big Ten championships. Day has been on staff for all three of the titles, serving as quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator in 2017 and quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator 2018.
Ohio State returned to the College Football Playoffs in 2019, the third time the team has played for the national championship in the six years of the CFP, and the first time since 2016.
Day and his wife, Nina, have a social mission away from football to increase education, advocacy and fundraising for childhood mental health initiatives. The couple has partnered with the national On Our Sleeves™ movement to help transform childhood mental health. In doing so, they announced the creation of the Ryan and Christina Day Fund for Pediatric and Adolescent Mental Wellness at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
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